a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

  • The Color of Warmth

    ColorOfWarmthA

    For me, this is the color of warmth. On a future day when a cold wind is blowing out of the north, this wood will keep us warm. The tree came down a year ago. Now I’m splitting it to stack for next year. Each piece, as it burns, will burn in its own way, casting its own warm glow. No two pieces burn the same way.

    There is evidence of humans burning wood nearly two millions years ago. More than a million years ago, our distant, distant, distant ancestors, some 80,000 generations ago, gathered wood, thinking this is the color of warmth too.

    ColorOfWarmthB

  • Lucky Bean

    Sunflower

    This afternoon I am as happy as a sunflower. The shiro-hana 白花 bean harvest has begun. I’ve been eyeing the massive bean pods hanging from the shiro-hana 白花 bean vines all summer. They are ready to pick when their pods dry and turn fox color. I collected the first test harvest today. Will I make the goal of harvesting a hundred or more pounds? We’ll see. The harvest will last through October.

    ShiroHanaHarvestA
    ShiroHanaHarvestB

    Open a dry pod and startling white giant beans stare back at you. It’s like they are saying, “You can’t just eat one … or I’m to beautiful to eat … or I bet you want to plant me.” I may have enough to sell at Bow Little Market’s Harvest Market on Saturday, October 3. It may be the first time anyone has ever been able to buy them fresh in the Pacific Northwest ever.

    ShiroHanaHarvestC
    ShiroHanaHarvestD

  • Artichokes in the Pacific Northwest

    Artichoke

    Artichokes do grow in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s proof. Artichokes is one of the things customers asked for at the farmers market this summer. Next season I’ll attempt to provide a steady supply from late July onwards. They are a thistle, but the leaves are soft and look lovely in any garden. They are worth growing just for their looks.

  • Luxury Defined

    FreshSaladGreens

    Salad greens picked moments before lunch, one perfect egg laid within the past hour or two to make a silky bowl of mayonnaise, that’s my definition of luxury. Ask your grocer, “I’d like salad greens picked within the last thirty minutes and an egg laid this morning with a yolk as round and bright as the sun.” You won’t be able to get them no matter how much you offer to pay. There are some luxuries even money can’t buy.

    OnePerfectEggFreshMayonnaise

  • Mother Umbrella

    Mother Umbrella

    Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day. Maybe that is what the chicks are chirping as they huddle under their mother and use her as an umbrella. Mother hens make excellent umbrellas. Not only do they keep the chicks dry, they keep them warm, and look, no hands required. Mother hens are much better than plastic umbrellas.

    Unlike baby chicks, cabbages don’t need umbrellas. The rain rolls off their slippery leaves the moment it lands on them.

    CabbageWet
    TokyoAkane